Books
​​​Editorial reviews
Michele Leembruggen’s A Hole Where My Heart Should Be is a deeply moving narrative that bridges the personal and the universal in its exploration of childhood relational trauma. With remarkable clarity and emotional depth, Leembruggen illuminates the lifelong ripple effects of childhood trauma, and the intricate pathway to healing.
She describes the profound reawakening of old wounds when a trusted therapist ended their work together, offering a raw and authentic window into the complexities of the therapeutic relationship. Her narrative weaves psychological insight with human vulnerability in a way that lingers long after the final page.
Drawing on my decades of experience working in the field of trauma recovery, I find Leembruggen’s journey especially resonant for its nuanced depiction of inner child work and the rediscovery of self-compassion. Leembruggen’s ability to transform devastating setbacks into opportunities for self-understanding is extraordinary and inspiring.
This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand trauma, healing, and the indomitable strength of the human spirit.
Gena Fawns
Somatic Psychotherapist
AMHSW, PACFA Reg.
BSW, B. Com (Hons), M. Couns.
A Hole Where My Heart Should Be took me on a journey of a human being's unapologetically authentic search for love, belonging, understanding and healing from Complex Developmental Trauma; from "what's wrong with me" to "this is what happened to me and I can learn about and deserve to love all of my selves...This book was a deep sharing of a one's journey in finding themselves and, in so doing, helped me/us to find that I/we am/are not so alone. I cannot wait to share this with my clients as an offering of hope and validation."
Michelle Kahl, LPC, NBCC, CCTP-II, CCDPDEMDR
Certified Therapist and CITEating Disorders Certificate
Life Walk Counseling Services, LLC
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A fascinating look into the mind and body of a traumatised woman who just wanted to be loved. As Michele describes her traumatic childhood and gives us a glimpse into everyday life for her and her ‘wounded’ parts, we get an inside look at what it’s like to be ‘her’ and how she uses healing techniques such as EFT, Havening, Reiki and other Somatic Practises in her healing journey.
Jenny Johnston
Senior Trainer at EFT Universe
Founder of Quantum EFT.
Other reviews
Beautiful insight into the author’s life and how she worked through a lifetime of trauma.
Michele's memoir is profoundly personal and unabashedly vulnerable in a touching way. This is all the more impressive considering her painful journey through childhood and the mental health struggles that followed. She does justice to what it feels like to be a high-functioning individual on the outside while being tormented by chaos on the inside, trapped behind the walls of your mind's prison. I learned so much. Thank you for courageously sharing your story.
I absolutely loved this book so much! I will definitely be recommending this book to all my bookie friends!
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A Hole Where My Heart Should Be: Lifting the Curse of Intergenerational Trauma: A Memoir
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A Hole Where My Heart Should Be is a memoir about living with and healing from childhood abuse and emotional neglect, of how damaged parents damage their children, and perpetuate the legacy of intergenerational trauma.
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Set in southeastern Australia, from the 1960s to present day, the book recounts, in vivid prose, the agony of living with an emotionally absent and at times, terrifying mother, and subsequently growing into a fearful adult, destined to repeat the same dysfunctional patterns.
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To the outside world, the author strove to project an aura of achievement and success, but inside the confines of perfectionism an invisible sea of despair lapped just below the surface. It was only at age 56, through a course of gruelling trauma therapy that the author finally discovered she was mentally ill, and carried inside her mind a tribe of traumatised ‘inner children’, the pieces of a fractured psyche, whose pain and distress caused dramatic but invisible mood swings, feelings of emptiness, toxic shame and self-loathing.
A Hole Where My Heart Should Be is a raw and riveting memoir of what it feels like to live with and heal from Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, of confronting our deepest fears and coming home to our true Self.​​​
